won't do to have any misunderstanding, so I tell you plainly
that--'

'Oh, PLEASE,' Anthea pleaded, 'do wait till we get to the others.
They'll think it most awfully sneakish of me to talk to you without
them; do come down, there's a dear.'

She knelt before the sand-bath and held out her arms. The Psammead must
have remembered how glad it had been to jump into those same little arms
only the day before, for it gave a little grudging grunt, and jumped
once more.

Anthea wrapped it in her pinafore and carried it downstairs. It was
welcomed in a thrilling silence. At last Anthea said, 'Now then!'

'What place is this?' asked the Psammead, shooting its eyes out and
turning them slowly round.

'It's a sitting-room, of course,' said Robert.

'Then I don't like it,' said the Psammead.

'Never mind,' said Anthea kindly; 'we'll take you anywhere you like if
you want us to. What was it you were going to say upstairs when I said
the others wouldn't like it if I stayed talking to you without them?'

It looked keenly at her, and she blushed.

'Don't be silly,' it said sharply. 'Of course, it's quite natural that
you should like your brothers and sisters to know exactly how good and
unselfish you were.'

'I wish you wouldn't,' said Jane. 'Anthea was quite right. What was it
you were going to say when she stopped you?'

'I'll tell you,' said the Psammead, 'since you're so anxious to know. I
was going to say this. You've saved my life--and I'm not ungrateful--but
it doesn't change your nature or mine. You're still very ignorant, and
rather silly, and I am worth a thousand of you any day of the week.'

'Of course you are!' Anthea was beginning but it interrupted her.

'It's very rude to interrupt,' it said; 'what I mean is that I'm not
going to stand any nonsense, and if you think what you've done is to
give you the right to pet me or make me demean myself by playing with
you, you'll find out that what you think doesn't matter a single penny.
See? It's what _I_ think that matters.'

'I know,' said Cyril, 'it always was, if you remember.'

'Well,' said the Psammead, 'then that's settled. We're to be treated as
we deserve. I with respect, and all of you with--but I don't wish to be
offensive. Do you want me to tell you how I got into that horrible den
you bought me out of? Oh, I'm not ungrateful! I haven't forgotten it and
I shan't forget it.'

'Do tell us,' said Anthea. 'I know you're awfully clever, but even with
al